The main causes of urinary incontinence, at least in a majority of cases, can stem from consumption habits often having to do with liquids. It probably won't surprise you to know that alcohol and coffee can be one of the most common triggers of urinary incontinence, since this is a diuretic as is caffeine, cola. Also any medications which control blood pressure could cause loss of bladder control.

On the other hand, there are also many types of urinary incontinence as well which may not have anything to do with consumption of liquids, though some of these kinds of incontinence could actually be caused by consuming too much of the liquids listed above. In fact, you could say that there are five main causes of urinary incontinence.

Five Main Causes of Urinary Incontinence

The five types of incontinence can be mostly described as one of the following:

1.) Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is also sometimes called effort incontinence and can indicate that pelvic floor muscles are not strong enough. This cause of incontinence can be indicated by small amounts of urine being discharged by exercise, sneezing, coughing, laughing and any other activity causing anywhere from a little to a lot of pressure on the abdomen or bladder. This problem is a real drag if you like to watch funny movies, especially in a movie theater!

2.) Urge incontinence is often at least a little bit heavier in discharge and can come out of nowhere and for no reason. Usually the discharge of urine comes simultaneously with an urgent feeling of the need to urinate but the urine is expelled too soon to be able to get to the toilet. This is thought to be caused by muscles like the detrusor muscle which involuntarily contracts or has spasms. Basically this cause of Urinary Incontinence is directly related to bladder control and muscles.

3.) Functional incontinence is similar to urge incontinence in that a person cannot get to the bathroom on time, though, this has more to do with other physical reasons such as lack of quick enough mobility, in order to get to the bathroom for whatever reason. Some of these reasons that fall under this category could include dementia, confusion, depression, poor hand eye coordination, lack of limbs, other mental deficiencies or even drunkenness and depression. These causes of urinary incontinence have to do with indirect reasons of the bladder system.

4.) Overflow incontinence causes more of a dribbling problem that cannot be stopped or dribbling sometime after the afflicted has passed urine. There are many reasons for this type of incontinence including weak bladder muscles, blocked urethra or autonomic neuropathy which is usually brought on by diabetes or other detectable diseases. Spinal injuries have been linked to this problem as has tumors and cancers that might block the flow of urine or cause a problem with the control of certain muscles. In this case the cause of the urinary incontinence could be more serious than the symptom of urinary incontinence itself and the cause needs to be dealt with immediately! The attention of a medical professional should not be put off.

5.) Structural incontinence is rare and usually a problem discovered in childhood but can also be a result of trauma to the gynecological areas. This is usually confirmed by X-rays or a vaginogram. Fistulas caused by obstetric and gynecological trauma can lead to this kind of urinary incontinence. Structural anomolies can be put into this category as well.